Birth & Educations: Born in village Jaisinghpur, Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India on 12 October 1960, Educated at Janta Inter College Belhari, Sultanpur 1974-1978, Lucknow University, Lucknow, 1978-80, Kanpur University, Kanpur, 1980-82, B.Sc., 1980, M.Sc. 1982, Ph.D. 1989.

Positions hold: Scientist, Senior Scientist, Principal Scientist, Senior Principal Scientist & Head 1998-2014, Professor Emeritus AcSIR & CSIR Emeritus Scientist 2020 to date in CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow.

Awards/Honours: DAAD Fellow (1990-1993) & Senior DAAD Fellow (1999) Bonn Univ., Germany), Visiting Scientist (2003-2005) University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., Golden Peacock Award (2008) by WEF, Prof. V.P. Bhide Memorial Award (2008)-SIMPP Udaipur, CSIR Technology Award -1999 & 2015, Outstanding Scientist Award- 2010, Dr. S.L. Mishra Medal 2011, Young Achiever Award-2014-Asian PGPR Soc., Prof. R.K. Srivastava Memorial Oration Award 2015 by NASI , Prof. H. S. Srivastava Memorial Award - 2015 for Social Contribution, Prof. J.F. Dastur Memorial Award-2017 by IPS, Prof. H. M. Shah Memorial Award-2017-by NSI, Dr. Manmohan Attavar Gold Medal in Floriculture-2017 by Indian Academy of Horticulture Sciences, Plant Pathology Leadership Award- 2017 by GBPUA&T , Pantnagar, Dr. M.R. Siddiqi Memorial Award-2018 by AMU and Umakant Sinha Memorial Award -2021 by IBS and many more.

Fellow: National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (FNAAS-2015), Phytopathological Society of India (FPSI -1999), Fellow Nematological Society of India (FNSI -1998), Fellow Indian Botanical Society (FIBS -2006), Fellow Indian Society of Mycology and Plant pathology (FISMPP-2007) and Fellow Indian Academy of Horticulture Sciences (FIAHSc -2019).

Research Areas: Nematology, Agricultural Microbiology, Plant Pathology, Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, Molecular & Developmental Biology, Biogerontology & Neurobiology.